What Kind of Question? What Kind of Sampling?

I'd like to do a qualitative study of film editors. My gut tells me that this is a good idea. What I'd like to look at is how you learn how to be a film editor in a digital environment with the group of an editor, assistant editor and an apprentice. How does the apprentice learn? Look at a nice, small group of three.

Ugh. Give it up. No good. First generation change, from cutting film on film using razor blades and scotch tape is over. Done with. Last person still cutting film is Steven Spielberg. Everyone has been cutting on an Avid Media Composer or FCP for years now. Big deal.

But it was an interesting change. When Media Composer first came out only one person could work at a time instead of three or four at a time. Used to be that the editing room was a busy social space with lots going on with alot of people all together. Then you put the computer in and boom, suddenly the editor was working alone, the assistant came in at night to log and never saw the editor. And the apprentice, instead of spending hours rewinding film, going on visits to film vaults and the sound editor and all those nice things that included getting coffee just ended up getting coffee. The editing room became a very lonely place. It stunk!

So what? It's over! How do you study something that is over?

Well, now we have people editing on networked systems. That is new! They can work together again now. The assistant is back on the day shift and the apprentice maybe now gets to do some interesting stuff again.

OK, now you are on to something. But what? You could do an historical study...

Well, what about understanding of workflow? How does the novice (the apprentice)grasp the whole process from exposing the negative to the print in the theater?

Understanding workflow?